Science

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Rosetta's Comet Scrambling Its Jets

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NIST offers electronics industry 2 ways to snoop on self-organizing molecules

A few short years ago, the idea of a practical manufacturing process based on getting molecules to organize themselves in useful nanoscale shapes seemed ... well, cool, sure, but also a little fantastic. Now the day isn't far off when your cell phone may depend on it. Two recent papers emphasize the point by demonstrating complementary approaches to fine-tuning the key step: depositing thin films of a uniquely designed polymer on a template so that it self-assembles into neat, precise, even rows of alternating composition just 10 or so nanometers wide.

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Transmission electron microscope (TEM) tomography provides a nanoscale, 3-D visualization of the structure of a templated block copolymer. The purple features are silica posts fabricated by electron-beam lithography that direct the self-assembly of the copolymer. The material self-assembles to form two orthogonal layers of cylinders (green).

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Bipolar Disorder Discovery at the Nano Level: Tiny structures found in brain synapses help scientists better understand disorder

A nano-sized discovery by Northwestern Medicine® scientists helps explain how bipolar disorder affects the brain and could one day lead to new drug therapies to treat the mental illness.

Scientists used a new super-resolution imaging method -- the same method recognized with the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry -- to peer deep into brain tissue from mice with bipolar-like behaviors. In the synapses (where communication between brain cells occurs), they discovered tiny "nanodomain" structures with concentrated levels of ANK3 -- the gene most strongly associated with bipolar disorder risk. ANK3 is coding for the protein ankyrin-G.

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Super stable garnet ceramics may be ideal for high-energy lithium batteries

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered exceptional properties in a garnet material that could enable development of higher-energy battery designs.

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ORNL researchers used scanning transmission electron microscopy to take an atomic-level look at a cubic garnet material called LLZO that could help enable higher-energy battery designs.

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Detecting Cancer Earlier is Goal of Rutgers-Developed Medical Imaging Technology: Rare earth nanocrystals and infrared light can reveal small cancerous tumors and cardiovascular lesions

A new medical imaging method being developed at Rutgers University could help physicians detect cancer and other diseases earlier than before, speeding treatment and reducing the need for invasive, time-consuming biopsies.

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Rare-earth nanoparticles encapsulated in albumin shells glow under infrared light.

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Imaging electric charge propagating along microbial nanowires

The claim by UMass Amherst researchers that the microbe Geobacter produces tiny electrical wires has been mired in controversy for a decade, but a new collaborative study provides stronger evidence than ever to support their claims.

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UMass Amherst researchers recently provided stronger evidence than ever before to support their claim that the microbe Geobacter produces tiny electrical wires, called microbial nanowires, along which electric charges propagate just as they do in carbon nanotubes, a highly conductive man-made material.

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Removal of Limitations of Composites at Superheat Temperatures

Iranian researchers produced composites that can be used at superheat temperatures.

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Nanotechnology Improves Quality of Anti-Corrosive Coatings

Iranian researchers tried to improve the quality of anti-corrosive coatings by using modified nanoparticles.

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Superconducting circuits, simplified: New circuit design could unlock the power of experimental superconducting computer chips

Computer chips with superconducting circuits — circuits with zero electrical resistance — would be 50 to 100 times as energy-efficient as today's chips, an attractive trait given the increasing power consumption of the massive data centers that power the Internet's most popular sites.

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Shown here is a square-centimeter chip containing the nTron adder, which performed the first computation using the researchers' new superconducting circuit.

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NASA's Opportunity Rover Gets Panorama Image at 'Wdowiak Ridge'

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This vista from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Wdowiak Ridge," from left foreground to center, as part of a northward look with the rover's tracks visible at right.